This post will be part of the Word Autoimmune Arthritis Day Blog Carnival. WAAD is May 19th 2014 but you can sign up for it now over at the site. This year’s theme is “A Day in the Life of an Autoimmune Arthritis Patient.” My previous post on this is here.

As I said in my previous post, these days RA doesn’t have such a huge impact on my life. In fact I almost feel a fraud posting about it, but there are some little things, and some equally small hints and tips on coping with them, that I can post about.

Other than making sure I take my medication really regularly, I don’t have to do an awful lot to manage my RA but one of the most important things I do is wear orthotic insoles in my shoes. It certainly helps being married to a chiropodist! These insoles have made a massive difference to me over the years. They’re now just a part of life, but if I do have occasion to wear ‘fancy’ shoes or, as I did yesterday, wander downstairs with bare feet without thinking, I soon know about it – and not in a good way! I had painful feet for years before diagnosis whenever I spent a bit of time walking about, and I just assumed it was the pain everyone had when they said ‘Ooh, it’s good to take the weight off your feet!’ It didn’t dawn on me for ages that when I took the weight off my feet they still hurt, and other people’s didn’t!

Another little tip is warm water – warm water is a wonderful thing if your hands are stiff first thing in the morning! I rarely get significant morning stiffness but if I do, plunging my hands into a sink full of lovely warm water really does help. (Hubby will read this and suggest I should do more washing up, I dare say!)

The other major effect RA has on me, and the most difficult one of all to get through to people who don’t understand the disease (including family, doctors, family who are doctors …) is the fatigue! This really is a big problem and the only way I can deal with it is to pace myself and try to keep to a boring routine of early nights and early mornings. (Obviously if late mornings are an option for you, that’s fine – they aren’t for me as I work full time.) People always pull faces and think I’m making excuses when I’m being a party pooper at 9 pm … and maybe they’re right as I’ve never been a fan of parties … but really, an early night and a good sleep makes all the difference to me.

The final thing is flares – even though my arthritis is mild and controlled I still get flares. They’re a fact of life. The hardest thing is to remind myself during a flare that it may seem like a dark tunnel but there IS light at the end of it. It’s ridiculous – every time I have a flare I feel as though THIS IS IT and things will never be right again. After seven years since diagnosis and quite a few flares you’d think I’d be over this but I’ve spoken to other RA sufferers and people who have other diseases that also flare and die down, and many seem to go through the same thing. It’s not sensible but I haven’t yet found a way to avoid it! So if anyone would like to offer me a hint or tip on this, it would be appreciated! :-)

Healthline blog awards

Follow me on Twitter

A bit about me

My name is not Pollyanna and I'm not a penguin. If you'd not worked out the last bit you should probably stop reading this and seek out a psychologist.

This is a blog about me and rheumatoid arthritis - sounds like fun, huh? Well I'm hoping it'll be a bit more fun than it sounds - hence the Pollyanna part. I'm going to try to stay positive about it and play 'Pollyanna's glad game' - finding reasons to be cheerful basically.

If you really want to know more see the 'About me' page.

Search the blog

Search for:

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.